Friday, June 20, 2014

I realize this is the 6th part our trip- but we were gone for 15 days!!

Thursday and Friday we made the long drive home. Thursday we drove to Salina, KS where we spent the night. Friday we drove the rest of the way. We like to pack a lunch in a cooler and find a park to eat and play at. It gives us a break from the car.
On Friday we stopped in Burlington, CO and found an AWESOME park. You just never see toys as cool and fun as this anymore. It was HUGE and all connected.

We met a nice lady at the park who told us about the "world famous" carousel that Burlington has. So after lunch we drove over to it and paid 25 cents a piece for a ride! The animals don't move up and down but they are all handmade and painted, and the whole thing is over a hundred years old.

And one more note we want to remember- we stopped in Oakley, KS to use the bathroom and all the signs were tattered and the windows of the gas station were shattered- but still intact, or boarded up. They had just had a tornado a few days before. What are the odds.

And, one more thing....we are glad to be home! Our whole trip was 3500 miles!

Thursday, June 19, 2014

After the reunion we spent Saturday and Sunday with David, Julie, Bailey, Maddie and Lily. We were so glad they were willing to put up with us even though I am sure they were exhausted from being in charge of the reunion.

Molly was buddies with everyone at this reunion (its about time), and she especially liked Julie.

David reading a southern swamp book to the girls in his best southern accent after I failed dismally.

Sunday was Father's Day and these Dad's got breakfast in bed and their favorite treats!

I didn't take many pictures but the girls all loved playing together, we went to a splash pad/park, David and Chris had real Texas BBQ (my stomach was still unsettled) and we just had fun!!

Monday we headed back to Katie, Ryan, Cody and Isaac's house. (there are more pictures because I was feeling better)
We didn't get to play the shake-it game at the reunion, so we played it at their house. You have ping-pong balls in a Kleenex box tied behind your back and you have to try to shake them out.

We had a pretty extensive hair doing party. First Katie did all the girls hair then the kids did our hair.

Katie got out all her doll stuff from when she was little and they all had a blast dressing and undressing all babies or animals they could find. (and Molly really liked Cody's cowboy boots).

Monday night we met up with our cousin and her family for Texas BBQ.

That's right, the real stuff is served at a gas station!!

Where you can wash your hands in a trough.

All joking aside, it was a fun restaurant with very good food! Those Texan's know how to BBQ!!

While with Katie we also went to Sam Moon and spent a couple of hours searching for the perfect purse! And played lots of games and ate Blue Bell ice cream- yum!

Our whole Texas trip was so fun, and we were sad- but ready- to go back home.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Wednesday we went to Galveston to a family friendly beach (where they plow the sea weed away). Even Isaac and Molly loved the water and waves at this beach.

Mom, Annie, Chris and I went kayaking while everyone else stayed at the beach a couple more hours. I have no pictures of our kayaking, but it was so fun. We went out to an island with all kinds of nesting birds and floated on a "lazy river" all the way through the island. At one point we were attacked by birds who were dive bombing us because they thought we were to close to their nests. We also stopped at an oyster reef.

Later that day G&G had a tea party with all of the kids (except those who were sleeping)

And then we all watched all the hermit crabs we had found at the oyster reef. If we stayed really quiet they would come out of their shell and walk around.

Cody did not think they were so neat. He was very frightened when they would start walking around.

Thursday we drove over to NASA. It was fun and very interesting. We went on a tour first of the whole grounds. They built NASA to look like a college campus, and it does.

This was the old command center. I almost felt like I was in the Apollo 13 movie :)

Our house was perfect for our needs. It had 4 bedroom, each with a queen size bed, a triple bunk bed and its own bathroom!

We left the beach house Friday and went back to David and Julie's for the kids to have a babysitter and the adults to go to a baseball game. Unfortunately, I had to stay home as I had just come down with the stomach flu. All the adult girls got it sometime during the week, but luckily no kids got it!

Our reunion was so much fun! We love the time we get to spend together.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

And the kids did a craft. Grandma is the best and brought so many fun things to do!

There were 2 swings under the house (all the houses are on stilts) and it was great to swing in the morning and mid-day before the mosquitos came out.

We walked on the beach and looked for shells.

and waded in the water a little while chatting with some people we met from.....Wyoming!

In the afternoon the older kids and some adults went back for some swimming while that littles napped.
And after everyone woke up they had frozen gogurts- THE BEST THING EVER. Why didn't I know to eat them frozen before!?

Playing a little summer bingo.

And playing "no bears are out tonight" (or chase).

That night we had a FHE with the new Family books from the church. G&G spent a lot of time getting it ready, and it was fun putting them together and learning about ancestors.